


Hold Thy Tongue

by themudandthesilt (orphan_account)



Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (2012), Thor (Movies)
Genre: Gen, Lips sewn shut, Older Fic, almost a redemption, kind of awkward, myth inspired, not my best jsyk, sorry - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-12-22
Updated: 2013-01-12
Packaged: 2017-11-22 01:44:38
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 8
Words: 9,006
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/604448
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/themudandthesilt
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>As punishment for his actions on Midgard, Loki's lips are sewn shut and he is stripped of his power. He is then sent to live at the mercy of those he wronged.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Hush, Hush, Little Silvertongue

**Author's Note:**

> This is reposted from FanFiction.net, where I wrote and posted this in early September. I'll put up a chapter every night.
> 
> This isn't my best work, but I'm still rather proud of it, so I'm putting it up.

One could say Loki was resigned.

Though he would never admit it, he was just as much under a spell as that archer had been, trapped in a web of lies and false promises. He too, had had that voice removed from the back of his head, and he desperately wished to have it back, so maybe he could feel something again. That white hot anger had been more of a comfort, more fulfilling than the cold apathy Loki had been left with.

But how could he admit to it now? He was gagged, and any day now expected a more permanent resolution, perhaps from Thor.

But more so, _why_? The Æsir would be no more sympathetic. By letting go and falling into the abyss, he had let this happen to himself. If it was even true, the words he spoke. One could never be sure with the Liesmith.

So Loki anguished and waited.

And after three days of waiting, he met his answer.

* * *

 

Loki wasn't sure how early it was when he was awoken. "Dress." A guard's rough voice ordered through the door, and then the wooden slot where Loki could see blue eyes was shut. A bundle of cloth lay at the foot of his cot. He pulled it apart, scoffing.

The Allfather had given the dignity of wearing his own colors, and nothing more. The slacks were plain and the shirt was loose. Peasant clothes. Nothing befitting the man Loki had been raised to be, but perhaps deserving of the monster he and his blood had made of him.

As soon as Loki was dressed, the door opened all the way, and the guards stomped in, grabbing Loki by his upper arms and dragging him out. Loki laughed. "You could at least give me a little dignity and let me walk myself," he said.

"You will be seeing no dignity today," the guard returned with a smirk, "So I daresay giving you a taste of it would be cruel."

They dragged him out into the main square of the city of Asgard, forcing him to his knees on the stone. Gathered at a safe distance, the Æsir called for his blood.

Heimdall stands near Loki, not looking at him.

And riding into the square on two white horses came the Allfather and his br—Thor. Odin dismounted, as did Thor, but Thor stood by his steed, while the Allfather advanced on Loki. "Loki... Odinson," the Allfather said, ignoring Loki's grimace at his false name, "we have gathered here today to lay out your sentence."

The crowded fell into a hush, eager to hear the trickster's punishment. (This was, after all, the show of the millenium.) This was a man who had so well humiliated them in front of the nine realms. "Firstly, your lips shall be sewn shut by Thor, and I, Odin Allfather shall bind your magic, leaving you defenseless." The crowd cheered.

"And finally, in your weakened state, you will be left to the mercy of those you wronged on Midgard," the Allfather finished, and Loki's stomach dropped. This was far worse than he'd thought to expect... What was Odin thinking? The Midgardians were not only furious of the damage he had done, but oh, Loki understood how people worked. In the end, he and Thor had burnished something else upon these people, a simmering, angry resentment.

Even to the Æsir, Loki knew he and his brother had always made rather overwhelming company, and had thus taken to a close group of friends in childhood—but on Midgard, they had been the inherent perfect in anatomy the humans craved—immortality, strength, magic... With Thor, they could swallow their pride and accept his services. Oh, but with him, with Loki... that resentment they brewed toward the race he pretended to be could very well he the end of him.

Of course, Loki didn't spew his doubts. He'd made it very clear throughout his life, and alarmingly increasingly as of late—that he and his words could not be taken as truth. "Bring the needle and thread!" Odin called, and the guards pressed their heavy, sinuous hands to his shoulders, forcing Loki to his knees, and then bending his back, so his face and his chest faced the sky.

A page bowed to Odin, presenting the Allfather with a little ornate box. Odin opened the box, handing the thread and needle to Thor. "Any last words, Loki Odinson?" The Allfather asked.

"I thought those were for the warriors and the damned," Loki said. Odin grimaced, but the moment was past, as Thor knelt over Loki, positioning himself on the trickster's chest. In his close proximity to his broth— _Thor_ , Loki could see Thor's hands trembling. Thor threaded the needle, putting on his brave face, a mask of indignation.

The silent apology clung to Thor's lips, the needle pressing into the sensitive skin of his lips. And then, Thor finally took the dive, pressing the needle through the flesh, and for a moment, Loki's body exploded in pain, his limbs quivering under Thor's legs, his eyes giving away a huge expression of fear. But Loki swallowed his fear. As easy as it was to forget in all this intensity, the Æsir were watching, and maybe in some far off part of his conscious, he was recognizing their jeers.

Thor couldn't make this last any longer, it was evident. He rushed through the job, blood coating his fingers and coating the thread in red, and finally, his big, clumsy fingers tied of the knot. It was over for him, but for Loki, it had only begun.

"And I, Odin Allfather, officially and formally banish Loki Odinson from Asgard." Heimdall stepped forward, and with the Tesseract sent Loki away.

* * *

"Director Fury, we got some huge energy scans a couple of minutes ago from the Bifrӧst site in Arizona," a blonde haired intern said quickly as she threw the door to Fury's office open, unannounced.

"Now, you just say that again," Fury said, sounding calculatingly calm.

The woman took a moment to catch her breath, before saying slowly, "Director Fury, we just picked up very unusually elevated energy readings from the Bifrӧst site in Arizona. We've only gotten this kind before when somebody came through."

"Then send somebody out there!"

"What?"

"Now!"

* * *

"Oh. This is good," an unfamiliar voice said, and it was the only thing Loki registered before he again fell unconscious.


	2. His Greatest Asset

When Loki woke up, he was somewhere very... very... _inherently_... wrong.

Everything was white. A sheer, blazing white, and he was laying on a hard floor in the middle of it. He stretched out his fingers, pressing the pads into the floor. Cold. Cold, cold, cold.

He blinked, the beginning of a guttural, primordial scream beginning in his throat. He wanted to scream, he wanted to wail. He wanted to tear his vocal cords apart and abuse his throat so well, that wherever faraway place Thor was, Thor could hear it, and know Loki would never forgive him.

But it wasn't going to be. The muscles in his jaw twitched, but he couldn't move his lips from their bloody stitches. Trying hurt, though. The cuts hadn't healed yet, the intrusions were still raw and bleeding. Trying to move brought a sharp pain.

Loki relished it. He started laughing, even. It didn't sound like laughter though, didn't much look like it. His abdomen shuddered and tiny wisps of air came from his nostrils, which just made him try to laugh harder.

* * *

"Well... that's pretty interesting," A scientist at the row of monitors said. He was a middle aged man with a bit of a beer gut and a nice fluff of wheat bread colored hair. He was also named Bryant.

"Banner's right," Bryant's colleague, a younger woman who went by Morris said. "This guy's off the deep end. What does Fury want us to do, send in a psychologist?"

"What I want you to do," Fury said, pausing for dramatics as the two jumped. Fury had a habit of sneaking up on people. "Is run some tests on Loki, so we can figure out what the guys powering on with his magic, and find ways to take him down."

"And on the ethics? Do you want us to be careful?" Bryant asked, his hand going up to loosen his tie, even though it was only a pin on.

"Negative," Fury said, "maybe we can solve two problems at once." And then he strode out of the room, leaving two unnerved scientists in his wake.

"How are we going to do this?" Morris said, sounding stressed. Not just sounding, oh... she was. This was far more than she was expecting.

"Well, first I suppose we should ask nicely."

* * *

_"KNOW THE SUFFERING OF YOUR SUBJECTS!" the voice screamed, and a boot collided with a rib, angry dark leather on his naked flesh. Loki didn't scream as his side blossomed into firecrackers of pain._

_He just took it._

_The man beating him grabbed him by his scraggly hair, pulling Loki up to face him. And then_ _the man spit. Oh, he spit in his face, and it was disgusting._

_The captor dropped Loki onto the smooth floor, and Loki landed with an oomph as the air was swept out of his lungs. That hurt. That sent all his nerve endings screaming at him._

_"A king can't know dignity without first knowing humiliation," the captor said. Loki yearned to tell him, that, oh, yes, he knew lots about humiliation. Hadn't he suffered it at the hands of the Æ_ _sir every day of his life? Always being beaten by Thor in sparring matches then jeered on by the spectators, or when he took his skills to try and win, they called him a sneaky fool? Or when Odin rode his son, Sleipnir, like Sleipnir were just some common steed._

_And with one final gift, a kick to Loki's knee cap, the captor strode out of the first all white room and left Loki to heal until the morning._

* * *

Loki was still asleep the next morning as Morris and Bryant looked through the one sided window at the guards in Loki's cell hooking him up to the shock equipment, the monitors... everything. Loki's skin was dotted with little circles connected to wires, and Morris figured there'd only be a couple more minutes until Loki stirred... thankfully, restrained.

When Loki was all hooked up, he still hadn't stirred. Bryant looked at Morris, who shrugged. No need to waste time.

Bryant turned the dial on the shocks down to the lowest setting before setting it off—and Loki awoke in a panic, struggling in his restraints for a moment, before settling and closing his eyes. He still looked scared though.

Morris tapped the intercom, and Loki fidgeted, terrified by the loud noise resounding around him. But Morris continued, "Loki, can you hear me?" she said.

Loki hunched his shoulders against his neck. Too loud, too loud, the gesture said. But Morris didn't adjust the volume. Loki finally nodded.

"Good," Morris said, "Loki, we are here to run some tests, okay? Nod if you understand."

The villian scowled, but he nodded.

"Excellent. Loki, we'd like you to do something for us. Can you just produce some light? Some sparks maybe? Is that in your abilities?" The villian nodded, quirking a smirk.

He didn't know what was good for him, did he? "Can you do that for me?" Morris said. Loki let the question hang for a moment. Loki then shook his head no.

Bryant turned up the voltage and shocked Loki. Loki's eyes opened wide in shock, and well, the shock, and he grimaced as what must've been silent screams beat against his lips.

"I want you to produce some sparks, Loki."

* * *

Fools! Fools! The word kept rebounding in his head, as his entire body just ached. You can't perform magic without the use of your hands... and wouldn't they think that Loki might have had his magic bound? Loki knew what Odin had done too him, stripped him of everything that made him powerful. Even trying to perform magic now would send him into worse pain than these Midgardians could provide with their electric jolts.

Loki ached to show off. But he just stared blankly at the ceiling, letting another electric shock wrack through his body, tears slipping from his eyes and dripping off his chin as his muscles spasmed.

And these people called themselves good, protecting their planet. Loki could've brought them so much better.

* * *

"What has become of him?" Odin said, standing at the end of the rainbow bridge.

Heimdall stared into the cosmos, but he was listening. "He stews."

"Where is my son?" Odin asked.

"Your son is in the palace training grounds, with Sif and the Warriors Three." Heimdall answered, still not bothering to look at the Allfather.

"The other one."

"He lies in a white cell, being tortured."

Odin took a deep breath. "By what?"

"He is being shocked with Midgardian electricity. He cannot perform what they ask of him," Heimdall said, still stoic.

"What do they ask of him?"

"Magic."

"They are fools."


	3. The God and the Tower

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Having issues with the linebreaks. I apologize.
> 
> Merry Christmas.

“Father,” Thor said, bowing deeply before the throne. “may I inquire as to why I have been summoned?”

“The Midgardians treat your brother ill.”

“Isn't that what we were expecting?” Thor said quietly.

“They torture him for information he cannot give, and your brother is unraveling quickly. This was meant to teach him a lesson, not destroy him.”

“The Midgardians seem more brutal and powerful than I first believed,” Thor said calmly. His heart was pounding—this news of his brother was awful! Was the Allfather going to do something of it? Or was he just informing Thor? Why?

“I want you to go back, and retrieve your brother, Thor,” Odin said, “before they damage him beyond any repair.”

“Midgardians are so petty,” Thor said, rubbing a hand against his brow. “I shall do it, father.”

“Where would you like me to send you, my son?”

“Send me to the Tower of Stark.”

\------

Tony Stark was having a pretty relaxed evening. He was nursing some bourbon and working on some upgrades for the Iron Man suit, listening to some music as he worked. Yes, sometimes it was good to be a billionaire super genius. Hell, what was he talking about? It was always good to be a billionaire super genius.

And then, something peculiar had happened. Last time Tony had looked out the windows (which admittedly, he hadn't done much) there wasn't a cloud in the sky. But then, suddenly, there was a huge clap of thunder. And it kept it up.

“Sir, I've detected a security breach.” JARVIS said calmly as the thunder died down.

“Oh, I've got a pretty good idea,” Tony said darkly, “and somebody better be dying.” Tony padded over to the elevator, bringing him up to the roof top level. And of course, there was Thor in his Asgardian regalia, strolling around as if somebody had actually invited him.

“Hello, my friend!” Thor said, those his tone was rather lacking in it's usual bright optimism. If this had anything to do with Thor's little psychotic brother...

“You're here.” Tony just observed with a yawn.

“Man of Iron, a great disaster is occurring.” Thor said, never one to be subtle.

“Did reindeer games up and break out of prison?” Tony said, “'Cuz if he did, that's another drink I'm gonna need.”

“The very opposite, actually.”

“So there's nothing wrong.” Tony said conclusively, “You can go home now.”

“No! There is something wrong!” Thor said, his voice getting dangerously low as he became irate. “Loki was sent into S.H.I.E.L.D.'s custody to see the trouble he has caused, not to be driven insane!”

“Wait, what?” Tony said. This sounded bad.

“You do not know of Loki's treatment here?” Thor said, “We had presumed you did.”

“Who's we?”

“Only the Allfather and I.”

“So what exactly do you know is going on?”

“They pump his body with electricity, a very volatile ener—”

“Thor, I know what electricity is.” Tony said, “We run almost everything off of it.”

“A bad idea, seeing as you have so little control over it.” Thor said grievously, but Tony could read further into it. Thor meant, _wow. Midgardians are stupid._ “They shock my brother with electricity, and ask him questions he cannot speak to them to answer, and ask of him things he cannot do in his state.” Thor had moved from angry to sad.

A weepy Norse god to deal with. The universe really hated Tony.

“My brother's mind is slipping, soon there may be little left,” Thor said, upset.

“I'm pretty sure Loki's sanity has already gone of the deep end of Niagra Falls.” Tony said.

“Do not speak your slanderous words of him!” Thor said. If Thor had been angry before, his tone was now furious. They both paused for a moment. “I apologize.” Thor said. “I lost control. Tonight has been very trying.”

“Apology accepted.” Tony said. “C'mon, lets go inside. Its cold out here.” And so Tony led a Norse god exhibiting anger issues into his tower.

\------

Thor was snoring like a chainsaw about fourteen hours later. Tony usually wasn't one early to rise, but Thor's description of what had happened to Loki, and what he knew of what was happening to Loki, had haunted Tony.

Oh, he could hate the guy all he wanted, but he wouldn't wish what was happening to Loki right now on anyone. Tony knew enough about torture to have decided that he wouldn't wish it upon his worst enemy. Coincidentally.

“Hey, JARVIS,” Tony said, walking over to a kitchen cupboard and pulling out a random box of cereal.

“Yes, sir?” JARVIS answered dutifully.

“Hack into S.H.I.E.L.D. again, would ya? Bring up anything pertaining to Loki on the Stark Tablet by my bed,” Tony said, rooting out a clean bowl.

“Certainly, Mr. Stark.”

\------

“Hey, Thor, it says here that they don't know why Loki won't talk,” Tony said. They were sitting on the couch as Thor fiddled with the TV remote with an expression of wonder, Tony pawing through the document's JARVIS had highlighted for him.

“How can they not realize it? What I have done to Loki is plainly obvious," Thor said, distaste creeping into his voice.

Tony decided to ignore the comment on 'what Thor had done to Loki'. “Well, it says here that they don't understand why Loki won't even open his mouth. They're trying to coax him with water and food, but nothing's working.”

“And my father thought that a leather thread would be very conspicuous, to show Loki's shame. Oh, the dwarves will hear about this.” Thor said, and Tony didn't understand a word of it.

“Hey, JARVIS.” Tony said. “Invite Bruce and Steve over, would ya? For a.... party.”


	4. The Fallen Æsir

One of the things Tony Stark liked about Steve Rogers was that Steve Rogers was convenient. If you needed him, he was always there. Coincidentally, that was one of the things Tony didn't like about Bruce Banner—he had a habit of running away, incommunicado, to third world countries.

So JARVIS had easily gotten a hold of Steve Rogers to come the next afternoon for a "team lunch", and by some stroke of luck, got the message to Banner, who was resting a bit before disappearing into the jungle again.

And, in desperation to at least put something on the table, Tony ordered four large pepperoni pizzas.

Thor started working in on the pizzas before Bruce and Steve even arrived. He had at first found the pie strange and unsavory, but after a couple minutes pawing at it, he'd started an assault on it. Tony figured that back home on Asgard, whenever a cook set something weird down on the table, Thor was probably the first to start working on it, so, hey, nothing was gonna change here.

Bruce and Steve arrived on the same lift up. "Where's everyone else?" Steve asked, looking around the room that was empty, except for the four of them.

"Funny thing, actually." Tony said, "I only wanted you two. At the moment."

"What's Thor doing here?" Bruce asked, "Not that you're unwelcome."

"Hush, green bean," Tony huffed, "I'm getting there."

"Alright, alright." Steve said, "Just get your spiel going."

"Well, our friend the god came in the other night saying they'd sent Loki back here to Earth—" Tony started.

Steve interrupted him, "I thought he was facing Asgardian justice, not getting sent back here on a picnic."

"My brother is facing justice!" Thor roared, "As a matter of fact, he is facing _in_ justice!"

"Shut up, both of you." Tony said. "The Asgardians sent Loki back here to Earth, but he got his power taken away, and a bunch of other stuff I guess, and he was basically hand delivered to S.H.I.E.L.D. and S.H.I.E.L.D. is trying to get information out of him, but for whatever reason Loki can't talk."

"Why can't he talk?" Steve asked Thor.

Thor swallowed heavily, and Tony just went on, "Thor here dissolves into tears whenever you push on it, so I guess it was pretty much the whole of the crap Loki was supposed to get. So! On with my story, Loki won't talk, right? But I guess S.H.I.E.L.D. hasn't figured out that he actually can't yet, 'cuz they're torturing him."

Silence.

"Well, no offense, but what did you guys think was going to happen?" Bruce asked, "Sending him down here? S.H.I.E.L.D. already wanted his head."

"We figured that given the period of time we gave for the wound to heal, that your organization would not act in spite of him, and instead my brother's time with them would show him what damage he has caused. Instead he is locked in a room with impossible tasks before him. Heimdall says he is becoming unhinged."

"Wasn't he already unhinged?" Tony said.

Thor chose to ignore him. "Instead of gaining respect for you Midgardians, my brother only grows to hate you more. It is the opposite of what was intended in this."

"Well, what are we going to do? Why'd you summon us?" Steve asked.

"Thunder Boy wants to shake things up and break his brother out." Tony said.

"Would you stop referring to me by such a derogatory title?" Thor said irritably, "But yes, that is my intention."

"Sorry, but no." Tony said.

"I don't think we can do that, sorry Thor." Steve said.

"I kind of have to agree with Steve," Bruce said, "We can't just march into S.H.I.E.L.D. and steal Loki back. We have to think about this."

"That's what I thought." Tony added superficially.

"I mean, I can see where you guys are coming from, wanting to save the guy, but it just doesn't seem safe right now. Plus, we'd be kind of letting him loose again. He could still outwit us."

"My brother is greatly weakened. He is in no condition for escapes or trickery." Thor said, sounding offended.

"I know... Breaking Loki out would look bad though." Steve said. "All in all, S.H.I.E.L.D. is the good guys. We'd probably have been a disorganized mess and be bowing down to King Loki without them right now. So we want to stay on their good side, right?" Bruce and Tony nodded. "So let's take this easy, and look for a chance where we can get Loki out without being identified, okay?" Steve looked pointedly at Thor, who stared back coldly.

"Let's take a vote, okay?" Bruce said. "I think we shouldn't break Loki out."

Tony said, "Sorry, Thunder Boy, but Bruce is right. I vote Nay."

"Of course I want to rescue my brother from his deplorable treatment." Thor scoffed, as if they shouldn't have even looked at him.

"Nay." Steve said. "Sorry, Thor, you're outvoted."

* * *

Thor sat on his bed in the chambers Tony had offered to him, because he was too tired and irritated to pace any further.

Oh, he desperately wanted to fly straight into wherever they had his brother holed up, break him free, and go straight home to Asgard, but there were two key flaws in such a plan. Firstly, Thor had no idea where to look, as Heimdall had not parted such information, and secondly, Thor intended to stay on good terms with the Midgardians. The way things were playing out now, breaking Loki out and keeping the Midgardians happy couldn't happen.

Thor missed his brother terribly. He'd missed him for two and a half years now. First, he had lost him when Loki let go of the Bifrӧst bridge. And then, oh, that flash of hope Thor had had when he'd heard that his brother was causing trouble on Midgard, and he had to go bring him home.

But then Thor had realized, that, yes, his brother was there in body, but his mind seemed lost as the Silvertongue was... possessed. And then, so cruelly ripped away for a year and a half as Loki sat in prison, so Midgard could heal and the terms of Loki's punishment could be drawn out.

Where had it all gone wrong?


	5. Come Out, Come Out, Wherever You Are

"Tony?" Thor said, through the doorway.

"Yeah?" Tony said, looking up from the lab table where he was fiddling with some equipment.

"Would there be anyway we could arrange a conference with Fury?" Thor asked, sounding desperate.

"Well, Fury is usually one who decides when he talks to you, not the other way around." Tony said. Thor looked rather forlorn. "I could give it a shot, though." Tony said, wishing he didn't have to see that look on Thor's face.

* * *

Everything seemed so very distant now. He could feel his muscles screaming, begging for release as painful energy surged through Loki's body, but somehow the pain seemed below his notice. It seemed far away.

Loki blinked. He felt very tired, like everything really could just slip away, and he could plunge into numbness. Sweet blackness, he'd welcome it this time, not like the time he'd been pushed from the Bifrӧst bridge. He would probably finally find respite in the nothingness, instead of finding terror.

Maybe Loki could finally be truly lost, and have no one left to look for him.

Would Thor look for him? Nay, he thought. Thor had far more important matters to be dealt with... If Thor cared he would have helped him before now, right?"

What was that, was someone saying something. "—done. Come on, buddy. It's done for today." Oh. It was that attendant that came in every day.

Loki wanted to scream, _I am not your buddy!_ and strangle the painfully bright man with his bare hands, but both parts of him seemed to be restrained.

"Come on, buddy. At least drink a little bit of water today, huh?" The attendant pleaded with him, patting Loki's hairline. The hair he'd always been so proud of seemed destroyed, coarse and delicate from the electricity.

"Here. I'll help you, buddy." The attendant said, holding the plastic glass up to Loki's lips, "Just open up and take a sip." Loki didn't even try.

This went on for twenty minutes longer, when the attendant finally gave up.

Loki closed his eyes, letting the blackness flood his retina. Sleep, yes, it was time for Loki to get some sleep.

Maybe this time, he'd be so lucky as to not wake up for awhile. Ah, escape.

* * *

"Sorry, Thor." Tony said. "Fury denied your request."

Thor just responded by hammering his fist against the table and walking out.

* * *

Went Tony had JARVIS do the original search for documents, he had JARVIS set up to hack in and look for more developments every couple days. On the fourth day after the meeting, when Steve and Bruce were still hanging around in the tower, something came from this.

"Sir, I've found something urgent." JARVIS spoke calmly, causing both Tony and Thor to look at the ceiling, snapping them from your conversation.

"Aw, come on. I was teaching Thor to play chess." Tony said, "And it was hilarious."

"Sir, I really think I should be bringing this to your attention." Said JARVIS.

"Go find out, Tony." Thor said, "This is not a high priority matter. It was only to past the time." he looked at the board in minor annoyance.

"Alright, alright." Tony said. "JARVIS, bring it up on my tablet. Thor, we will be back to this. You kick ass at strategy... more than I expected, really," Thor glowered, "But lets work on knocking over the pieces without sending them flying into the wall next time, okay?"

Tony walked over to a couch on the other side of the small sitting room, sitting down lazily on it, and pulling the tablet into his lap, pulling up the document. For a moment, he read feverishly, and Thor watched his increasingly troubled looking face.

"Shit, shit, shit." Tony said, his face draining of a little bit of color.

"What ails you, Stark?" Thor asked, concerned.

"Read this." Tony said, handing the tablet to Thor. Thor liked this device, because it was easy for him to use, (it seemed to be one of the few Midgardian technologies his fingers were not to big for) but he certainly did not like what it had to tell him now.

Loki. In a coma. Vital signs, but no other sign of life. Hadn't so much as twitched in forty-eight hours. And Thor had sat in a nearly palatial tower playing a Midgardian board game to relieve the stress no more than five minutes ago, as his brother wasted away.

Thor handed the tablet to Tony, sitting down on the couch, trembling. Tony looked even more concerned than before. His back shook with the sobs that he absolutely refused to let out. Loki, Loki, Loki. What had he done. "My fault. This is my fault." Thor said heavily, but weakly at the same time.

"Thor, nothing you did could've stopped this from happening—" Tony started, but was interrupted

"I could've refused to sew his lips shut, I could've refused to bind him!" Thor said angrily, his anguish replaced with far more foreboding anger.

"Thor. You've got to calm down so we can think our way out of this." Tony said, reluctantly putting a hand on the God's shoulder. "Nothing you could've done could have stopped this."

"Leave me, Stark." Thor said after a beat. "I will be coherent later." Tony decided to listen. He had a feeling that in a couple hours he wouldn't just have broken chess pieces, but a broke chess table too.

* * *

"Weren't we just here yesterday?" Steve asked, as he, Bruce, and Tony once again found themselves sat around the dining room table.

"We've reached situation critical." Tony said. "Loki's gone comatose. No response. Barely any vital signs."

"Why isn't Thor here?" Bruce asked.

"He's upstairs, breaking my furniture. Point is, we gotta stop being assholes. If S.H.I.E.L.D. has exhausted Loki so badly as Thor says they must've to get Loki in this kind of state, this is nothing close to justified, and we have a responsibility to everyone, right?" Tony said, "We're heroes."

"Well, that's a mess." Bruce quipped.

"I guess we must see this from the most rational view," Steve said. "Before, Loki was a liability. Now he's just very, very asleep. Those could mean two very different things if we're breaking him out." Steve said.

"Let's do this." Tony said. "I've got a plan."

* * *

JARVIS said that Loki was being held in a facility near DC, so that's where they packed themselves up to go. Thor was anxious and agitated through most of the flight. "I like flying with Mjӧlnir better." He said about five times.

Tony replied with "Yeah, well, that's a lot more conspicuous that a jet flying into DC, and we don't want to tip S.H.I.E.L.D. off when you're on the way, as they know you don't like what Heimdall says is happening to Loki. The only ones they should know are in the area are the ones they've invited in—Bruce and Steve." about five times.

The S.H.I.E.L.D. base they were visiting was underground, and they had decided that Thor and Tony would act as easy get away above should anything go to terribly wrong. Bruce said he wanted to present some research, and that he'd like to bring Steve with him. Conveniently enough, Bruce did have some research he had to pass through S.H.I.E.L.D. anyways, so it was hardly a cover up.

They found themselves inside, and Steve slowed down to let Bruce tread ahead of him, and Steve took the detour Tony had explained to him down a complicated series of side hallways that led him so far below ground his ears were popping.

The hallway he found himself in, the one that Loki had to be one, was brown and unassuming. Some pipes poked out of the ceiling, and a couple lights flickered. It looked... forgotten, which was probably the point, should someone unauthorized for this section of the facility wander down here...

Room number 1176, Tony told Steve, was an observation deck. From there, he could get into Loki's cell. Steve pulled one of those strange identification cards from his pocket, pressing it into the handle of the door.

Access denied. That took out the... calm way of getting in.

A lock was only as strong as the door it was attached to, right? And Steve had plenty of strength to get through the door. So he gave it one strong kick, with all he had, and the door flew off it's hinges, flying onto the ground, and scaring on young person inside.

Oh no.

The person inside looked only to be about 25, fresh out of school. An intern or an attendant, probably. "What are you doing here?!" The guy asked.

"I'm here on a rescue mission." Steve asked. There really was no way of proving himself innocent after drop kicking a door, right?

"About time." The young man said, "This prisoner's an asshole... but he doesn't deserve this. He doesn't deserve anyone of it. This is... inhuman."

Steve fought the urge to say, _So's he_. "Alright, what can you tell me about getting him out?" he asked instead.

"None of the machine's he's hooked up to have any role in keeping him alive. I can take them all out and he'll still be stable." The attendant said. "And I can just press this button to let you to him." The man pressed a button on a dashboard quickly, and the glass lifted, revealing Loki lying on a cot, hooked up to multiple machines. The only movement he made was the steady rise and fall of his breath.

"We are so fired." The attendant said, but he didn't sound remorseful at all to Steve. In fact, he laughed.


	6. His Daughter in Hell

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> uh... sorry.

For a day or two, everything was quiet. Tony and Bruce hooked Loki up to the machinery in the medical bay, and Thor was constantly there.

Thor said that Loki's lips were sewn shut.

Tony couldn't see it.

Thor was the calmest Tony had ever seen him, at first. He sat at Loki's bedside and held his hand. He recounted news of Asgard to Loki. "It's probably a healing coma." Thor said, "he will awaken within twelve hours."

But after awhile it sounded more like he was trying to reassure himself than to reassure them. And that was less reassuring than anything.

* * *

It was on the fourth day that Loki had lain on the cot when JARVIS was, once again agitated by what was probably an Asgardian. "Sir, I have detected a security breach," JARVIS said unhelpfully, as just seconds later the door opened easily and a figure in a robe entered the living room where Tony and Steve were trying to distract themselves with a film.

"You are the one in possession of this property, are you not?" The figure said in a feminine voice, raising a ghostly pale hand to point at Tony.

"Uh, yeah." Tony said, pressing pause and looking at the woman closely. While Thor was unnerving, and Loki was just plain scary, whoever this was, they just creeped him out.

"I request that you lead me to Thor." The woman said simply, her face still shrouded by her hood.

"'Course." Tony said, getting up and leading the woman into the elevator, pressing the floor number to the little make shift hospital Tony had set up. The woman made no effort to create conversation, and Tony sure wasn't.

They reached the medical bay, and Tony opened the door for the woman, but when she did not go in first, he did. "Hey, Thunder Boy?" Tony said, and Thor looked up, not even bothering to object to the moniker anymore, "You got a visitor."

"Unshroud yourself, would you?" Thor asked, his eyebrow raised, "It's improper, is it not?"

The woman let down her hood and what Tony saw was sickening. One half of her face was the most beautiful young woman Tony had ever seen, with full red lips and intense green eyes, with flowing black hair that snaked down her neck and disappeared into her robe. But the other half...

It was the face of a rotting corpse. Green with disease, the eye blood shot with cracked lips that couldn't quite shut, and strips of skin holding on by hardly a thread.

Thor just surveyed the monstrous woman with a mild interest. "Evening, Hela." He said.

"Greetings, Uncle." Hela said evenly, her voice lacking warmth, but also low in chill.

"...Oh no." Tony said, "Please tell me you have another brother?" Tony asked Thor, glancing at Loki uncomfortably.

"I have not another sibling," Thor said, pursing his lips, "and my brother does have several immortal children." He said, as if it was no big deal, the half dead woman between them. Tony resolved not to push him.

"Hela, what is the implications of your visit?" Thor asked, "Forgive me, but I do not guess this to be a social calling."

"You are correct, my uncle." Hela said, "I have left my realm on business, business in which he," she glanced to Loki, "shall not be pleased with."

"You know of your father?" Thor said, his voice betraying his thirst for knowledge on Loki and why he was so unresponsive.

"I do not simply know of my father's activities, as I should so usually." Hela said. "Instead, I see them first hand, for my father is with me."

"No! Please!" Thor said, his voice suddenly raising in volume as the look on his face made Tony want to shatter.

"What's going on?!" Tony yelled.

"Mortal, my name is Hela Angrboðadottir." Hela said, looking at Tony oddly with the good side of her face—it was hard to see what expression she was making on the deadside. "I guard the realm of the dead who were damned. Helheim."

"Oh. That sounds like a... sweet deal." Tony said uncertainly. "So if daddy-o is with you, how's he doing?"

Thor let out a dry sob which made Tony feel even worse (when else did you hear Thor crying?) but Hela just launched straight into her answer, "My father dwells in anguish and despair. With me, he can again speak and eat, but he chooses not to. I have invited him into my palace, but the way he exists it is as if he truly does lie in Hel."

"So Loki's pretty screwed in the head?" Hela gave him a blank stare. "Insane?" he tried again.

"I would not go as to say insane..." Hela said hesitantly, "Perhaps neither insane or stable. In the grey area, one should say."

"Neat, gray area." said Tony, "That just makes it more complicated. So, are you just here to tell us that Loki's brain is in your little kingdom of bad people and he's lost to us for good? Or is there something more?"

"I should so doubt that my father would like it if he knew I was offering this..." Hela said, "but I come to barter."

"You do?" Thor suddenly rejoined the conversation, the solemn expression on his face turning positively gleeful. "What is it you wish for, Hela? Anything, anything in the nine realms for my brother's soul!"

"His freedom," Hela said. "My price is that should I return my father to his life, I want him to be free, so he can pursue his happiness, so never again should he have to seek recluse in my domain." Hela said severely.

"Thor," Tony said quickly, "We have to think on this, we can't make the decision now, we have to talk it out..."

"I accept!" Thor said, his voice just as quick and garbled as Tony's, "He's free, he's free, we'll help him, we'll heal him, niece..."

Hela smiled with the good half of her face, and then she faded away, leaving just the scent of rotting flesh in the air, and for a moment, Tony tried to figure out what words he want to scream at Thor first.

But then, there was a long squeak, and Tony and Thor both turned around as Loki rolled over in his cot.


	7. Ravaged, Bloody Red

Loki felt tired. Loki also knew. Loki knew that he was not where he thought he should be. Loki thought he was supposed to be with his daughter.

He opened his eyes dazedly, blinking. The room wasn't white. It wasn't white. It was close, but still, it _wasn't_. Change. The ceiling was white, but the walls were a light blue. Almost periwinkle. He was on a cot, too, instead of a chair or the floor.

Then, he realized. His hands! He could move his hands! They weren't bound. They lay on either side of him, apart. He rolled over, stretching his fingers, flexing his wrists.

But then he heard footsteps. Heavy footsteps. He knew the pattern of that stride, right? It was Thor, that oaf, that brute. His false brother.

He blinked a couple times, trying to push himself up, so he could see better, but his arms faltered. They hurt. The exertion did. But he saw Thor.

Thor looked different. He looked tired. Thor didn't do tired. If Thor was tired, he went to sleep. He didn't stew. But then Thor sat on his bed. Loki ached to tell him to move, but he couldn't. He also heard a door open and shut.

Thor looked at Loki long and hard, before moving over and picking up Loki's torso. Thor gave him a long, hard hug, and dare he say it, Loki thought it felt good. He didn't struggle. Thor would attribute that to his exhaustion, he figured. It wasn't that it was Thor hugging him though, Loki could care less about that. It was contact. For the first time in a long time, somebody actually wanted to touch him.

Yes. That was it. "Brother, I have missed you so." Thor said into Loki's hair, his arms squeezing him tighter. _I am not your brother_ , Loki's brain screamed.

"Your daughter has bargained your freedom to me..." Thor said, "And so I must do what I can." Thor pulled a jagged knife from his armor, "This was the one you stabbed me with. If what they say of your enchantments is true, then this knife should have the power to cut your gag."

Loki started to scream. Not a full scream, one that could shatter the windows and all his bonds, because he couldn't do that. He screamed under his stitching though—he didn't want this to happen, he didn't want the knife that close to his face, get it away get it away _get it away_.

But Thor kept going. He cut the tiny knot that closed the thread, starting to pull it loose from its place. By Yggdrasil, it hurt. When his lips had been sewn shut it was a fast, bloody pain. But this, this was a slow, intense burn, and it was so much harder to block out.

* * *

 

Thor could hear his brother screaming, from the corner of his mouth now, but he couldn't start now and stop. He had to finish this. Dots of red blood pricked from where Thor had pulled out the golden thread, trailing down Loki's lips and his chin, dripping off on the whiteness of the cloth between them. He had to keep doing this. He had to make it clean. Over. The golden thread had turned fiery hot in his hands at such agitation, and Thor know it had to be making the process all the more painful for Loki...

The silvertongue pulled his hands to his hair, ripping out clumps as more and more of his mouth escaped the thread and his screams came out. But the noise he was making... it couldn't be him. No. It was scratchy, rough... his voice was like velvet. The sounds he were making, they could not be him... but then the pain started to fade, and bits of black crept into the corners of his vision...

It was quite obvious to Thor that Loki had passed out again from the pain. His own hands were coated in his brother's blood, but he was almost done. Almost there. Loki fell limp against him, but Thor propped him up and balanced him as he pulled out the last couple of threads. "Brother, it is over... sleep." he whispered.

* * *

Tony strode into the laboratory with his usual confidence, but Bruce could tell that something was wrong. "What happened?" He said.

"Cutting to the chase, are we?" Tony said, "Fine. Apparently Loki has a kid with the power to raise the dead."

"Go on."

"And apparently Loki went brain-dead while he was in that coma and paid a visit to his daughter. And his daughter just came up here with a bargain for Thor."

"Please tell me this isn't going where I think it is."

"She said she'd revive Loki if he woke up free."

"And Thor agreed."

"Yup."

"Dammit." Bruce said, and Tony just nodded. A little while later, the screams began.

* * *

"Hey, Loki, can I come in here?" Bruce said, opening the door to the medical bay slowly.

"If I said no, you would enter anyways." Loki said, his voice scratchy, poor, and painful. He was propped up against some pillows. His fingers picked at the fibers of his blanket. "I'm still surprised they'd let such a raging berserker as you into the tower."

Bruce swallowed evenly. "Thor asked me to check you out, now that you're awake and may cooperate."

Loki gave his usual lilting smirk, and said, "May is a key word in such a sentence. And what do you mean by, check me out, Midgardian?"

"Just check up on your health." Bruce said.

"I can assure you, it is deplorable." Loki said with a cough.

"I just want to find out in what way, okay?" said Bruce, "It'll help us, and it'll help you. Win win situation, okay?"

"I suppose."

"Alright, lets check out your throat, okay? We've already done x-rays and stuff, so we know that you weren't hurt there." Bruce took out a little wooden tab from a jar. "Open up and say, 'aaaaah'." he said. Loki followed his instructions as Bruce set the tab against his tongue and shone a little light in Loki's mouth. "Oh my god." Bruce said.

* * *

"Brother, Bruce has told me of the condition of your throat." Thor said, walking straight into the medical bay.

"Oh, hello." Loki said, "I thank you for your ever polite greetings."

"Loki..." Thor said with a sigh, it was all to much to hope for Loki to be thankful to even Thor for his rescue.

"What do you want, Thor?" Loki said, "Well, what happens now? My voice is free and my body is nearly healed... The only thing left is my magic." He finished with a rasping cough.

"Brother, your throat, it's ravaged. Bruce says it bleeds. He says your voice may never truly heal."

"Well, its a good thing I do not sing then, Thor." Said Loki.

"Brother—"

"I wish you would stop calling me that." Interrupted Loki.

"No." Thor said firmly. "I made a deal to free you when Hela awoke you. But I cannot free your magical bindings. I fear the Allfather may refuse."

"We shall see then, Thor." Loki said brightly. "Free, eh?"

"Do not get any ideas, brother, or I will take you back to Asgard in chains." Thor said quickly, irritated with Loki's superior little smirk.

"I would not think that to be free, would you either, Thor?" Loki asked. Thor just growled in response. "Touchy, touchy." Said Loki.

"I wanted to invite you to dine with us tonight." Thor said. "Will you?"

"No." Said Loki.


	8. An Open Ending

Thor was disappointed that Loki had refused to eat with the team. If he still had any power over his brother, he may have forced him, but the point was, he didn't. In every way but one, Loki was a free man now. His decisions were his. Thor wanted to make him feel welcome, show Loki that these people had helped to _save_ him, but Loki had refused such helpful nudges.

At first, the meal was peaceful, or as peaceful as meals seemed possible of being with The Avengers. Sure, the conversation revolved around barbs at each other's expense, but it was simple.

 "Sir." JARVIS spoke, catching everyone's attention and quieting them. Thor stopped chewing his pizza. "We have visitors, Agent Barton and Agent Romanoff."

"Don't let them in, I'm busy." Tony said.

"Sir, an external network has overridden the command. It left us a message, saying, and I quote, 'You aren't the only one who can hack into a database.'"

"God dammit." Tony said as the elevator dinged, and thoroughly pissed off looking Clint and Natasha walked into the kitchen. "You know," Tony said, "there's this thing called a private residence. You're not supposed to come unannounced."

"Tony, we didn't come here to get a lesson on _manners_." Clint said ruefully, "We came here to find out what the hell you guys were thinking."

"Oooh, I get it. You're mad. You're caught between a rock and a hard place because of us—S.H.I.E.L.D. wants you to pick a side, huh?" Tony sneered.

"I know Thor here has some emotional baggage over Daddy Issues upstairs, but why would you guys be so stupid?" Clint said.

"Do not refer to my brother in such an insolent manner!" Thor roared, offended. He threw his pizza on the floor angrily.

"Hey, cool off." Steve said, putting a hand on Thor's shoulder, which Thor just angrily shrugged off as he seethed.

"He meant no offense." Natasha said calmly. Thor decided to not even justify the obvious lie by looking at her. He may be naïve about Midgardian customs, but he was no fool. Nearly a thousand years living with Loki had taught him plenty about taunts.

"They almost killed him." Bruce said, finally, breaking the awkward silence. "When we picked him up, he was in a coma."

"His mind was in Hel." Thor said, his voice still shaking with anger. "He truly was almost past the point of no repair. And his revival did not come without it's cost."

"What do you mean...?" Clint asked, trailing off but finally raising the sentence with a question.

"Loki's half-dead, half-hot kid who is, apparently, Satan, wanted daddy to come back free. The only thing Loki doesn't have back yet is conscious access to his magic." Tony said.

"Please tell me that was a sick joke." said Clint.

"Nah. Man, mythology's gold, huh?" Tony diverted, "Hey, Thor, does Loki have any other kids?"

Thor's lips thinned. "He has some. From Angrboða, from Sigyn, from mortal men..." Thor trailed off, and the sentence hung in the air.

"Wait, mortal men? Don't tell me that means he gave birth to the kids..." Clint said, sounding a mix of confusion and horror.

"Not just half-human children..." Thor said, "Though I must say that he was in a female form at all of these occurrences."

"Wow... Can this conversation be done yet?" said Steve.

"I've learned enough too." Natasha said decidedly.

"Look... Fury's not all that keen on losing his main heroes, I guess, so he wanted to let you off with a warning. Actually, we were supposed to scream at you more. And he wants Stark to compensate for the lost research."

"Why me?" Tony asked, in pure curiosity.

"Because you had that setting on JARVIS that destroyed the files after you hacked in." Clint said.

"Oh, yeah."

* * *

"Brother." Thor said, entering the room.

"Can no one in this tower knock?" Loki said irritably. Stark had moved him out of the bay and into an actual bedroom. It was one of the smaller ones, which was good, because Loki didn't much like large spaces. He preferred small rooms, where things were always within his reach.

Loki had already begun making a nest for himself in the bed, with several piles of blankets from the closet surrounding him. Thor looked at his thinly dressed brother sadly, he was still so, so thin.

"Loki, if I travel home to Asgard, will you join me to plead for your magic?" Thor asked after a longer than comfortable pause.

"...yes." Loki said. Thor turned to go, but he heard Loki start to say something.

"What was that, brother?" he inquired of the words that had died meeting his brother's lips.

"T-thank you, brother." Loki said, not noticing his slip. A hope blossomed in Thor's mind that maybe it wasn't a slip after all.

* * *

 

_La fin_


End file.
